Brazilian authorities have announced the arrest of a crypto Ponzi scheme operator in the country. The market continues to witness more of it despite regulators trying to rid the sector of activities like this. According to the report’s details, the authorities had to deploy more than 100 agents across several locations suspected to have been the hideout of the network. The report claimed that the over 20 addresses that were ransacked were collectively in the control of Francisco Valdevino da Silva.
The official statement of the Brazilian authorities put the figure that the perpetrators have falsely taken from unsuspecting traders at about $760 million. The report claims that asides from the thousands of residents in Brazil that were scammed, the group expanded its nets to traders in more than 10 countries worldwide. The group’s modus operandi included lying to victims that they stood to gain more than 20% on their investments at the point of registration.
Da Silva and his fellow criminals lied to their victims that they had traders who specialized in trading and bringing in massive profits. The criminal network was also said to have lied about its invented digital asset. The Brazilian authorities claimed that upon investigations, they discovered that the crypto didn’t exist.
Ponzi schemes continue to ravage the sector
According to a local news station in Brazil, Brazilian authorities also claimed that Da Silva and his group scammed several celebrities across the country. Asides from soccer players who lost a portion of their earnings to the criminal enterprise, the daughter of a pop star, Sasha Meneghel, also lost about $230,000 to the criminals. The raid was tagged Operation Poyais, a name coined from the scam pulled off in Poyais, where a con artist sold bonds to a country that didn’t exist. Authorities started interested in the case after the US asked Interpol to provide help through its sophisticated police network.
The report has also identified some members of his family as gang members and beneficiaries of the criminal proceeds. Ponzi schemes are one aspect that continually ravages the entire crypto market. Some months ago, the CFTC waged war on a criminal by suing him in court. In the details, the criminal was said to have scammed unsuspecting traders of Bitcoin worth over $12 million. Aside from that, US authorities have also stopped a potential scam that would have targeted users in South America.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/brazilian-authorities-ponzi-scheme-operator/